


University Years

by miera



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-15 15:53:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU story about an alternate version of Elizabeth Weir and John Sheppard meeting as undergraduates at a university in Boston, Massachusetts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	University Years

**Author's Note:**

> This was begun as a WIP in my journal and I got so far and ran out of steam.

John had spotted her the first day of classes. She was in his "US Military Since 1945" history class. Even just a month into the semester, it was clear she was a favorite with the professor, always asking questions even when John was fighting not to fall asleep in class. He thought idly about approaching her to ask to borrow her class notes or something, but hadn't quite gotten around to it. Two years into college and he was still running his ass off with ROTC and work and classes, though by now it seemed like he should've gotten a better handle on things.

He was sure he hadn't seen her before, because he was sure he would've remembered. Tall, thin, nice body, and long brown hair that she usually had in a pony tail. He'd drifted off more than once during lecture staring at her.

Which was why he recognized her now, sitting on the arm of a couch in a dimly lit, crowded house party in Newton. Two of the guys he knew rented the place, which was the only reason he was here really, other than it being a nice Saturday night where he actually didn't have to work for once. He was debating going up and talking to her – walking up to strange girls and striking up a conversation wasn't his strong suit – but he froze when he realized who she was talking to.

John had only seen Lucius Lavin a few times around campus, but everyone knew who he was. A fat, unfunny jackass, he was a graduate assistant in the Sociology department. He was also, supposedly, the go-to guy on campus for GHB.

That propelled John across the room to the girl. "Hey," he said, straining to make himself heard over the music and the other people talking around them.

The girl looked at him with barely concealed relief. Lucius scowled.

"You're in my history class," he said to the girl. "With Professor Fischer?"

Her whole face lit up. "Oh, isn't that class cool? I never thought military history was so interesting, but it's really amazing how much its tied up with diplomatic strategy."

Her blatant enthusiasm made him chuckle. He certainly wasn't getting the same rewarding experience in the class she was.

The girl bit her lower lip for a second. "Sorry," she said, laughing ruefully. "I forget sometimes other people are quite as geeky as me."

Neither of them was paying much attention to Lucius, who was eyeing John like something he'd like to squash. John offered the girl his hand. "I'm John."

"Elizabeth," she answered. Her fingers were a little damp from sweat but her skin was warm against his. She turned towards their third wheel. "And this is... I'm sorry, I forgot your name?"

"Lucius," the big guy yelled. "Lucius Lavin, nice to meet ya," he said with fake cheer, shaking John's hand. "Listen you guys want a drink? Let me get you a drink!" He took off before either of them could answer, leaving John alone with Elizabeth. He had to shift closer because the crowd behind him moved, and she scooted back on the arm of the couch, then changed her mind when her ass came into contact with the arm of the guy who was currently plastered to some girl on the couch.

"So," he said awkwardly. "Are you a history major?"

She nodded. "Double major, history and political science."

"Wow. Why?"

She laughed again and John thought she needed to laugh a lot more often. She usually looked very serious in class. "I'm thinking of going to law school."

"Again, why?"

She narrowed her eyes at him but he didn't think it was for real. "What about you?"

"I'm in engineering, and Air Force ROTC."

Her forehead crinkled. "Air Force, huh? I take it you want to be a pilot?"

He grinned. "Hell, yes."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Like those guys in 'Top Gun'?"

"No way. Those guys were Navy-" he cut himself off before his tendency for foul language could get out of control. Instead he glared. "Don't tell me. You think Tom Cruise is just dreamy." His voice went up into an annoying high-pitched squeal.

Thankfully, Elizabeth shuddered. "God no. I can't stand him."

"Good, cause a future lawyer with a thing for Tom Cruise? I would never be able to be friends with you."

Elizabeth doubled over laughing, and John was feeling pretty proud of himself, but Lucius picked that moment to come back with three cups of weak-looking beer. "Here we go!" He pointedly offered John one cup and then handed Elizabeth another one. John's stomach lurched as Lucius eyed Elizabeth greedily, and all the rumors John had heard came flooding back.

To her credit, Elizabeth hesitated, looking down at the liquid uncertainly. She clearly wasn't stupid enough to just drink something a strange guy handed to her. Her eyes caught his and his alarm must have been showing. He shook his head minutely. Lucius clapped him on the shoulder, "Come on, drink up everyone!" Lucius downed some of his own beer fast.

Elizabeth glanced at Lucius, watching him drink. She raised her cup to her lips but John noticed her throat didn't move.

His relief was short-lived. Someone appeared to jostle Lucius, who then managed somehow to toss a half-full cup of beer all over John's shirt.

"Shit!" he yelled as people around him howled and laughed. Lucius mumbled half-assed apologies.

Then Elizabeth jumped to her feet and her cup fell to the floor, splashing all over Lucius' feet, making him start to swear.

"Oh I'm sorry!" Elizabeth said to Lucius. John didn't think she really meant it. "John, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he muttered. His shirt was soaked, and he was going to reek of beer all night.

Elizabeth grabbed his arm. "We should try to find a bathroom or the kitchen or something, get you cleaned up."

Lucius' jaw had dropped, and John fought off a smirk. "Thanks." The two of them began to make their way through the crowd of people, leaving him standing there looking furious.

***

Elizabeth Weir, it turned out, was a sophomore, making her a year younger than John. She liked U2 and Bonnie Raitt, had been very confused by "The Fisher King" and unfortunately didn't really care for football.

John found all this out as they walked from the party back to the house he shared with three of his friends, which was only a few blocks away. After determining that his shirt was a total loss, Elizabeth had said she was thinking of going home and John, suffering from a weirdly protective streak he couldn't really explain, didn't like the idea of her taking the T all the way back to Kenmore alone this late at night. Of course, it was Saturday night and the trains were still fairly full of people coming and going to parties like this one, but when he suggested they stop by his place so he could change and then see her home, she just raised an eyebrow at him and quipped "And they say chivalry is dead."

The lights were on downstairs when they got to the house, and John was surprised to find Carson flopped across the couch watching tv. Carson was a medical student, meaning he was barely ever home. John didn't think he'd actually seen Carson in the flesh in about two weeks.

He stared at John's shirt. "What happened to you then?"

"Guy dumped his beer all over me," John said ruefully.

Carson straightened himself out when Elizabeth came into the living room behind John. "Was this dumping accidentally or on purpose?" Carson asked, looking from her to John and back.

John's lips twitched. "A bit of both. Carson, this is Elizabeth Weir. This is Carson Beckett, one of my roommates."

They shook hands and Carson urged Elizabeth to sit. "I'm just going to go change my shirt," he said, and then couldn't resist adding. "I'm pretty sure you'll be safe with Carson."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes while Carson shot him a look.

John hung his shirt over the back of his desk chair, because otherwise the beer smell would soak into the rest of the large pile of dirty laundry on the floor. He grabbed a black t-shirt from the pile, checked to see if it smelled really bad, and then went to the bathroom to make sure he was cleaned off.

When he got back downstairs Elizabeth and Carson were talking and laughing easily and John wondered momentarily if it had been a tactical error bringing her here. He'd seen more than one girl get all swoony over Carson because of his accent. But she looked at him, and John realized she was checking him out and he couldn't keep the smirk off his face.

They hung around a little while, watching the end of some movie on HBO while Carson and Elizabeth were chatting. Finally, she looked at the clock reluctantly and John stood up.

As they were heading out the door, Carson called after them. "Elizabeth? If he doesn't ask for your phone number, please give it to him for me."

Her cheeks turned bright pink.

***

It was Elizabeth's idea to stop at Expresso Royale for coffee before they got back to her dorm. John had been in there a few times, but never for very long. He wasn't a huge coffee drinker, but he didn't usually have company for it.

They found a table in the back near the jukebox, after splitting up a dollar to punch in requests in the machine. They were eating some ridiculously sweet dessert thing Elizabeth had insisted on buying as a thank you for him seeing her home. The chocolate icing was really good, but John's attention got caught when Elizabeth absently licked a drop of icing off her finger.

If she noticed his sudden dazed expression, she didn't say anything. Instead she wiped her hands and leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "So, that guy at the party, he had spiked my drink, right?"

Caught off guard, he hedged. "It's possible. I've heard that he sells GHB."

Elizabeth looked disgusted. "It figures. My roommate has been nagging me that I need to get out more and not spend all my time in my room studying. I finally give in and..." She shook her head.

He frowned. "Your roommate was there?" She hadn't said anything about coming with anyone, and girls were usually pretty careful about letting each other know where they were, especially at parties like that one.

Elizabeth made a face. "Yeah, that was her on the couch." He remembered several pairs of bodies occupying the couch. He couldn't have picked any of them out of a line up. Elizabeth shrugged and fiddled with her napkin. "We're not really close, you know? We were assigned together last year and since we don't drive each other nuts we just figured we might as well stay in the same place. I'm thinking of moving off campus next year, though. Save some money."

"I think there's an apartment down the street from us that's available," he said with a small grin. "But seriously, I know a bunch of people who live out in that area. I can ask around for you."

"Thanks."

Their music selections finally came on and they talked about music and movies for a while. John was a little shocked at how comfortable he felt talking to her. Usually he was a bit nervous talking to people, and especially to girls, but Elizabeth seemed to have a similar sense of humor, and just as strong a tendency to jump subjects without missing a beat. They went from discussing rock music's major decline to talking about how Leningrad had just become St. Petersburg again as the staff announced the place was closing for the night.

Elizabeth lead him across Commonwealth Avenue, in the blinking light of the enormous CITGO sign that dominated the area's skyline, and back to another street that was quieter and lined with old brownstones. John hadn't been back here before. "It's nice."

She nodded. "Not quite so dirty as Kenmore. Plus, one of the guys in my building was attacked by one of the homeless people who hang out in Kenmore, so it's a little safer here."

John suddenly felt his protective streak wasn't so crazy.

They arrived in front of her dorm, which had once been the hotel where the Red Sox stayed, according to Elizabeth. John shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling like an anxious teenager. "I'd like to see you again," he blurted out. "You know, outside of class."

Her cheeks turned pink again. "I'd like that." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a brown piece of paper.

It was a napkin from the coffee shop. She'd written her phone number down on it. He looked at her speculatively. "You did this while I was in the bathroom." She nodded, looking embarrassed, and he was a little alarmed at how cute he thought that was. "What if I hadn't asked for your number?"

Elizabeth gave him a wicked smile. "Who said that wasn't for Carson?"

He chuckled, folding the napkin up carefully and putting it into his pocket. When he looked up, Elizabeth had stepped closer to him and she leaned in and kissed his cheek. Her lips were soft and he could smell her shampoo this close and it made him slightly dizzy. "Thank you for taking care of me, John."

He swallowed. "My pleasure."

She gave him a little smile and then walked away. He watched her safely into the dorm. She waved goodnight and he automatically waved back.

He turned around and headed home, a huge, silly grin on his face.

***

Elizabeth smoothed down her red skirt for the tenth time and tried to calm her nerves as well. Since meeting John on Saturday she'd spoken to him on the phone twice and seen him just as recently as this morning when they got out of class. But it was one thing to talk to him walking around campus, both of them lugging heavy backpacks over one shoulder and with her mind still half on the lecture. Even being at the party on Saturday hadn't felt strange, though it wasn't every day a handsome stranger walked up and saved her from a creepy guy and then walked her home like her own personal knight in shining armor. But he had just been this cute, funny, interesting guy who was flirting with her, which after all had been the point of going to the stupid party in the first place.

Now, though, John was going to be here any minute to pick her up for their first date. This was a whole different ballgame.

She'd gotten the long, dark red skirt last fall, kind of an impulse buy while shopping after getting to Boston. She hadn't had a chance to wear it since then, but it looked good with her boots and the black sweater, so she put it on. After agonizing to a completely ridiculous degree, she left her hair down. When she looked at herself in the mirror, for a second it was like a stranger was looking back at her. An adult woman, who looked completely ready to be out there in the world, taking on anything.

Of course, then she bit her lower lip and suddenly she was a nervous twentysomething who felt like she was playing a part and not going to fool anyone.

The only small mercy of the process was that her roommate was at a movie screening tonight. Elizabeth was driving herself crazy. The last thing she needed was Kelly's running commentary.

Then her phone rang and it was too late to do anything but grab her purse and go downstairs.

John was waiting outside the lobby and Elizabeth's heart began to pound. Every time she'd seen him so far, he'd been in jeans and a regular shirt, looking like nearly every other guy on campus. Now he was wearing black pants and a blue, button-down shirt and a coat over it. He looked older, and even more gorgeous, and she prayed her palms weren't going to get sweaty because all her nervousness seemed to be crystallizing inside of her.

He turned and saw her and froze and her panic welled up another notch. Then she realized his eyes were going over her from head to boots, and his mouth was hanging open a little. With most guys, that would just piss her off, but John looking at her like that made her whole body tingle with warmth. "Hey."

"Hey," he breathed out. "You look amazing."

Smiling, she did a little checking out of her own. "Thank you. You clean up very well yourself."

John chuckled and offered her his arm like a 19th century gentleman or something. She took it and they started walking. Her boots hurt a little from the modest heels but she ignored it as they strolled down the avenue towards Newberry Street.

It was easier while they were walking, threading through the other people out and about. It had gotten cooler during the week and the leaves were starting to turn and fall. Even though they had seen each other a few hours ago, they talked quietly about the past week. John had a lot of fun stories about his three roommates. She couldn't wait to meet the other two.

Dinner was a little dream-like. They went to a nice Italian restaurant and were seated at a tiny table that was clearly intended for people who were interested in being physically very close to one another. John and the waiter had to do a lot of juggling of items on the table to keep from knocking anything over.

That was how they ended up holding hands for a minute. It felt ridiculously junior high school, but he had been reaching for something and the waiter plucked it away first leaving John's hand to fall on hers. Neither of them seemed inclined to pull back immediately, so they sat there. His skin was warm, which she remembered from Saturday. She could feel the slight calluses on his fingers against the back of her hand, and John's thumb brushed against her knuckles.

She glanced up and the way he was staring at her made Elizabeth a little dizzy. That had happened on Saturday a couple times, too. He would just look at her and her pulse would race and she would feel this crazy surge of something inside – heat and knowledge and something restless and frustrating and wonderful all at once. She'd never felt anything remotely like this before, and that was scary as hell.

She had class early on Friday morning, so John took her home after dinner, but only after he teased her, "What, no ice cream?"

"It's a little cold," she said, and it was a bit chilly now. She wasn't wearing a coat and the restaurant had been warm.

John put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her a little closer. He looked down, smiling tentatively. "Better?"

She grinned. "Yes. Maybe we could get ice cream next time?"

He just nodded at first, but then he turned to stare at her so fast she wondered if he'd hurt his neck.

Then he smiled.

John kept his arm around her the whole walk back. They got near the dorm and Elizabeth slowed down just outside the pool of light coming from the front doors. She didn't want this to end. Didn't want to go back to being the scared little sophomore just yet.

"Elizabeth?"

She didn't look up at him directly. She was teetering between shyness and daring. "I'd rather not say goodnight right in front of the building," she said quietly. "There's so much traffic..."

"Oh." John turned to face her. His arm slid down to the small of her back, still holding her close. Her eyes drifted up the front of his shirt to his throat and finally to his face.

John was staring at her mouth fixedly. His fingertips brushed against her cheek and then he leaned in. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion for a second, until their lips met.

Elizabeth got goose bumps when they kissed. Neither of them moved right away, but then John turned his head slightly to a better angle and Elizabeth's hands came to rest against his chest. The first kiss melted into a second, and then a third, and then she lost count. His hand cupped her cheek and then slid into her hair, his fingers brushing against her earlobe. Elizabeth wound her arms around his neck and held on, her lips parting in a soundless gasp of pleasure when his tongue brushed against hers gently.

His arm tightened around her back and both of them seemed to forget they were standing on a public street as the kissing got hungry and sloppy. All she could think of was the slight scrape of his stubble against her skin and the heat spreading through her as John kissed her deeply. It took the sound of a loud truck going by to make Elizabeth pull back.

Even in the low light, she could see John's lips were red from kissing her. His eyes were dark and she could feel him breathing heavily against her chest. Her fingers had somehow buried themselves in his hair, and it was soft and cool around her skin. It flashed through her mind that she really didn't want to let him go, and that as close as they were, it wasn't close enough. Not as close as she wanted to be.

The force of it hit her and Elizabeth stepped away from John, slightly panicked. She'd never felt such blatant... well, lust really, for anyone before and she wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Wow," he muttered and that made her laugh. John looked a little shell-shocked too. At least it wasn't just her feeling so overwhelmed.

Slowly they ambled closer to the doors. "So, um, are you doing anything on Sunday?"

"Well," Elizabeth scrunched up her forehead. "My plan for Saturday was to study, and then Sunday take a break and do some more studying..."

He smiled easily. "They're showing 'Duck Soup' over in Harvard Square on Sunday afternoon."

"Haaaavard," she corrected. "Is that an invitation?"

"No, I was just making small talk," John rolled his eyes.

Elizabeth nodded and he reached out and took her hand. "Pick you up at 4?" When she nodded again, he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers one last time. "Goodnight, Elizabeth."

"Goodnight John."

 

***

It was a long ride home on the T. John spent it trying hard to keep this thoughts away from anything involving Elizabeth and kissing, at least until he was home and in his own room. Or the shower.

When he got back, there was a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. John went to investigate.

Carson was stirring a pot of soup at the stove, looking frustrated. The reason for his frustration was obvious. Their two other roommates were in the kitchen, arguing heatedly and eating in between extremely long sentences. Carson and John referred to them as the old married couple because they bickered like one most of the time.

Rodney McKay and Radek Zelenka were both grad students in physics at Northeastern. Rodney was actually John's age but he had skipped a few grades and now was already in his masters program. Radek was the oldest of the four of them, and even though he'd lived in the US since he was a teenager, he still had a slight accent. Like Carson's, it got more pronounced when he was pissed off.

Given that Rodney was actually Canadian, John sometimes joked about living in the UN.

As usual, the argument wasn't anything he could follow. Something about reactors or differentials or something, which suggested it had been going on a while. Carson snapped just as John came in. "Oh bloody hell, would you two give it a rest already?"

John headed past Rodney, who was leaning against the counter eating leftover pizza, and grabbed a soda from the fridge. He wasn't in the mood for beer at the moment. Radek, who was sitting at the table across from Carson, one leg tucked up under him and eating an apple, looked at John critically. "Someone is very dapper this evening."

The others stared at him. Carson poured his soup into a bowl and chuckled. "He just got back from his big date with Elizabeth." Carson looked up with pretend sadness. "I gather from your smug expression I shouldn't get my hopes up?"

John shook his head. "No, she hasn't dumped me. Yet," he added before Rodney could. He certainly had been going to, but instead Rodney took another bite of pizza.

"You're back kind of early," Rodney said with his mouth full. That was typical Rodney. John knew he wasn't the best at dealing with people but Rodney made him look suave by comparison. Not that he didn't like Rodney. He was a good guy, just kind of awkward.

"She has an early class on Friday," John said absently.

Rodney swallowed and said, "Is she any good?"

There was a frozen moment of silence while the three of them stared at Rodney.

"What?" he asked, confused. Then his face turned red. "I didn't mean that! I meant with classes! Good at school. God." He waved a hand. "Besides, after that idiot you were dating last year, it's not an unfair question."

"Which idiot was that?" Radek asked, his forehead scrunched up.

"The exchange student," Rodney reminded them. "Tall, stick figure, big cow eyes and the mental acuity of a two-year old?"

"Oh, her," Radek nodded. John glared at Rodney. Yes, that had been a huge mistake, especially when what he thought was a nice, casual thing turned into her showing up at the house all the time and following him around. Plus the guys had started singing that Police song, "Every Breath You Take" whenever he got home and she was there.

"Yes, you could hardly do worse than that." Carson smirked. "Though I don't see Elizabeth ever being unwelcome if she starts stalking you around here."

John rolled his eyes. "To answer your real question, Rodney, yes, she is. She's really smart. And funny."

"And with a very nice-" Carson started to say to Radek.

"Hey!" John interrupted.

"I was going to say smile."

"Yeah right."

"Hunh. He's being awfully possessive with this one," Rodney said to the others, looking at John with a grin. John's ears got hot, but he couldn't deny something about Elizabeth felt different.

"Perhaps young John has finally met the right girl," Radek put in. Radek called them all "young" mostly to piss them off.

"I should just give up right now, I guess," Carson grumbled into his soup.

 

***

Over the next two weeks, they went out to dinner twice, spent one night doing a pub crawl with some of John's ROTC buddies, and ended up eating lunch together at least twice a week on campus. It was wonderful and exciting and, Elizabeth finally admitted to herself, a tiny bit tiring. Not that she was tired of John, but having to get dressed up all the time and going out and spending money (because she insisted on paying her own way after that first date) was exhausting. She had no idea how John hadn't collapsed yet. She had her scholarship money and the savings account her parents had created for her to draw from, and keeping up with classes was draining enough. She couldn't understand how he did it with essentially two jobs on top of everything else.

The weather had gotten rainy too boot. When John called her on Friday afternoon, she made a decision.

"We didn't have anything specific planned for tonight, did we?" she asked.

"Not that I remember. Did you have something in mind?"

"Yeah, I was thinking we could just hang out. Watch a movie and eat popcorn, you know? I'm so tired and the weather sucks. It'd be nice to just curl up under a blanket somewhere."

"That sounds perfect to me. As long as we don't have to argue about the movie too much."

He couldn't see her over the phone, of course, but she stuck her tongue out anyway. Then added, "Anything you want except horror."

***

In spite of the rain, Elizabeth went to two different convenience stores before heading to John's house that night. Unfortunately, that meant when she got there, her socks were soaking wet.

"Hey," John greeted her at the door, kissing her briefly. "God, you're freezing."

"My feet are sopping wet. Stupid sneakers." She kicked her shoes off in the foyer, even as John was taking her coat. "I don't suppose I could borrow some dry socks?"

John looked at the damp paper bags she was carrying. "Depends. What's in the bags?"

She grinned. "You'll see. Now, socks."

John took her coat and wet shoes and socks away somewhere and provided her with a clean pair of heavy socks and a towel. Elizabeth collapsed onto the couch in the living room, where a carton of pizza was sitting on the coffee table, and rubbed her feet and then hair dry. John was watching with a bemused expression. "What?"

He shook his head and swooped in to kiss her. "You're cute."

"You're twelve."

He kissed her nose. "What's in the bags?"

"You're a nightmare on Christmas morning aren't you," she said rhetorically. She dug into the paper bag and produced a carton of Hagen Daas ice cream.

John cracked up. "You brought me ice cream?"

"Not just ice cream," she pointed to the label.

"Midnight Cookies and Cream? This is the one you were going on and on about the other night, right?"

She slapped his arm. "I was not 'going on and on,' I was explaining why I was founding a new religion. And by the way, I got the last three cartons on campus. I was going to make it four but I didn't feel like trekking all the way to the union to check."

John put two of the cartons away and returned with a spoon. Elizabeth pried open the lid and scooped the softened ice cream from around the top of the container. She held the first bite out to John and he let her feed him, which made her warm all over in a way that had nothing to do with the dry socks.

His tongue darted out to lick the chocolate from his lips. "Wow."

"Told you."

They ate the rest of the carton and some of the pizza and curled up on the couch. They were watching Rodney's VHS tape of "Star Wars" in letterbox format. Elizabeth told John she wanted to be an astronaut when she was a kid, or possibly Princess Leia. The look on his face told her plainly that he was imagining her in the bikini from the third movie.

They were both reciting the dialogue along with the movie, mocking Luke for being a whiny teenager, remembering seeing the films in the theaters when they were kids. It felt fantastic to just relax and not worry about how she was behaving or what her clothes looked like. As sparks were flying onscreen between Leia and Han after the escape from the trash compacter, Elizabeth turned and kissed John, for no real reason other than she wanted to. His hand cupped the back of her head for a minute as he kissed her back enthusiastically. When she put her head on his shoulder, his arm slipped around her waist and squeezed. She sighed. "This is nice."

She felt John drop a kiss against the top of her head. "Yeah."

During the briefing for the attack on the Death Star, there was an eruption of noise, both of keys in the front lock and two voices talking rather loudly. John groaned.

Two guys, who she presumed to be the other two roommates, came in the front door. They were both wet from the rain and struggling to get their coats and shoes off. That didn't seem to impede their argument at all.

The taller one broke off first, because he caught sight of the television. "Hey, is that my tape?" he demanded.

"Yes, Rodney," John answered, waggling his fingers at him. The move brought Rodney's attention to Elizabeth, who pulled out of John's hold to sit up straight.

"Oh, um, hi. You must be Elizabeth," Rodney said, turning a little pink around the ears.

Elizabeth smiled, holding out her hand. "Hi."

"Elizabeth these are my other two roommates, Rodney McKay, and Radek Zelenka."

Elizabeth turned to Radek, who smiled at her broadly. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Elizabeth," he said, his voice deepened by his accent. He took her hand but instead of shaking it, he brought it to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers. She blushed bright red before she could control it.

Rodney and John both rolled their eyes.

John's hand stroked down her back a little possessively. "Elizabeth brought ice cream for you guys."

"That was very kind of you," Radek said, sitting down in the chair and still looking at Elizabeth.

"What kind?" Rodney wanted to know.

"What did you call it?" John asked her innocently. "Something about a religious experience in a cardboard container?"

"Midnight cookies and cream," she retorted with a glare. "It's cookies and cream ice cream, but in chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. I could only find three cartons left on campus, and we ate one, so there's only two left."

"Which means one for Rodney and one to split between myself and Carson," Radek said with a smirk.

Rodney scowled, tugging at his wet jeans impatiently. "Hey it's not my fault you two eat more slowly. Besides, Carson isn't big into ice cream anyway."

Elizabeth waved towards the television. "We can pause the movie if you want to go get into some dry clothes." John shot her a look but she shrugged. Radek and Rodney both disappeared temporarily to change, while she used the bathroom.

When all four of them were ready, and Rodney had the carton of ice cream open and was reluctantly sharing it with Radek, they watched the final battle sequence.

"So, do you prefer Elizabeth or is there not some nickname you usually are called by?" Radek asked her.

She made a face, "What, like Liz? No thanks."

John tugged a curl of her hair. "Not Lizzie?" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Beth? Betty?" Rodney put in.

"Bette, Bitsy? Radek added.

"Liza, Eliza, Ellie..." she rattled off, shaking her head. "Trust me, I've heard them all."

"So John must watch himself when he speaks, then," Radek said with a grin.

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't mind his nickname, actually."

John looked bewildered. "I don't have a nickname for you."

"Yes, you do," she told him. "You call me Lizabeth. You drop the E."

His forehead scrunched up. "I do?"

She smiled evilly. "In... certain situations."

John's face turned bright pink and Radek and Rodney both cackled with laughter. She felt a little bad about embarrassing him like that in front of his friends like that, so she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Like I said, I don't mind."

He poked her ribs, right in her ticklish spot, making her squeak.

They watched the end of the movie, discussing the special effects and the fact that there were going to be new, "improved" versions of the movies released soon, something all four of them adamantly opposed.

When the Death Star was gone, Rodney piped up, "OK now we have to watch 'Empire'."

Elizabeth looked at the clock reluctantly. "I don't think I can stay that long. The trains stop running in about an hour."

Rodney looked at John and something passed between them she couldn't read. Rodney shrugged. "Some other time, then?" He looked a little bashful about saying it and she smiled.

"Of course. I do a great Yoda impression."

John took her hand and lead her away from the living room and downstairs. There was a washer and dryer in the basement and he pulled her coat and shoes from inside. "I threw them in here so they'd be dry for you," he explained.

She couldn't believe he had thought to do that. Forgetting the time and the rain outside, Elizabeth put the coat and shoes down on top of the dryer and pulled John close and kissed him.

His arms were around her, his hands running up and down her back slowly and Elizabeth felt her legs melting a little. He turned them, so that her back was against the dryer and their bodies were aligned practically from head to toes.

When they came up for air, Elizabeth dragged her nails across his scalp. She had no idea why, but every time she did that, John closed his eyes and sighed happily. There was only a single light bulb down here, and the shadows made the angles of his jaw and neck stand out. The sound of the rain and the darkness of the basement made it feel like they were cocooned somewhere, in some private place, and Elizabeth impulsively gave in to an urge she'd had since the night they met.

Leaning forward, she kissed John's neck, right where the line of his beard stubble vanished. His hands tightened on her back, so she kept going, trailing her lips up the column of his throat until she reached the soft skin just below his ear. Usually John was the one who got more... exploratory when they were kissing, but this time he simply held her and let her take control.

Hoping fervently he wasn't going to laugh at her for this, she traced the edge of his earlobe with her tongue lightly, before kissing the pink skin gently.

John practically growled, definitely not laughing. "Lizabeth..." he said lowly. She realized his hands had slid down until he was cupping her ass through her jeans. She breathed out over his ear and pressed herself even closer to him, enjoying the way she could feel his chest moving as he breathed, right against hers.

John kissed her hungrily. He felt tense under her hands, and she realized he was barely holding himself in check from doing way more than kissing her. Apparently he had liked her taking a more active role a little too much.

Before she could stop it, her imagination pointed out that the dryer behind her was at a fairly convenient height. What would it feel like to have his warm hands on her bare skin? Or his lips?

Her own body was tense and hot and for a moment she let her thoughts run wild as they kissed. But they were making out in the basement and there were people upstairs. As soon as her mind asserted itself, her nerves reappeared and she pulled away.

John didn't let her go far. He leaned his forehead against hers, both of them breathing rather heavily. "You could stay tonight," he said hesitantly.

Elizabeth backed away again, and this time he let her go. He must have sensed her unease. He ran a hand over the back of his head. "I mean, you could crash on the couch for the night," he added hurriedly.

They both knew that hadn't been what he originally meant, but she decided to let it slide. Instead she cocked her head to one side. "Was that what the thing with Rodney before was about?"

His eyes widened, even in the low light. "Um, yeah. I didn't think you'd be comfortable with that idea." John looked slightly disgusted with himself. Elizabeth got the feeling he wasn't talking about her sleeping on the couch.

She stepped in and kissed him lightly. "Just... not yet, okay?"

He nodded, touching her face gently. "Okay. I'm sorry."

Elizabeth shook her head. He didn't need to apologize for anything. After all, she had been the one... anyway. "I should probably get going." She couldn't resist. "You know, before I attack you again."

John chuckled, following her towards the stairs. "Hey if that's likely, I'll stay down here all night."

 

***

Elizabeth surveyed her reflection in the mirror with satisfaction. John was taking her to a Halloween party a friend of Carson's was hosting. She'd kept her costume a secret, wanting to surprise him. He was going as Han Solo, which didn't surprise her in the least.

It had been about two weeks since that night they'd hung out at his house. They had both been very busy in the interim, unfortunately. Elizabeth was still having huge bouts of nervousness and anxiety this entire relationship, but only when she was by herself. When she was actually with John, either out somewhere or hanging out at his house, she was fine. It was sitting in her dorm room alone that made her obsess. She tried to disengage her brain from thinking so much and just enjoy letting things unfold, but it wasn't going too well.

She liked going to the house to see him, mostly because there were four cute guys there who all seemed to go out of their way to pay attention to her. As far as she could tell, none of the other three had girlfriends, so maybe that was it. But in her experience, groups of guys tended to either ogle a girl or ignore her. It was nice to be treated that way.

Though she also enjoyed it when she and John had the house to themselves. Earlier this week, they'd been there alone, watching a movie, except neither of them was paying much attention to the tv screen because they were making out on the couch. John had already figured out that her ears were highly sensitive. On their second date, in the movie theater, he kept leaning over to whisper comments in her ear. When his lips accidentally brushed against her earlobe and she jumped, he had looked incredibly smug.

Last Wednesday, John had been nibbling at her ear and driving her insane and she protested that it wasn't fair that he knew her weak spot and she didn't know his. John had just looked at her for a minute. "Lizabeth, you are my weak spot." Then he'd pushed her onto her back on the couch and kissed her again and if Rodney and Radek hadn't come home just then...

John hadn't said anything about them being interrupted, but he'd looked irritated enough. Elizabeth was sure, thanks to certain evidence she'd felt on the couch that night plus what had happened in the basement, that John wanted to sleep with her. But apparently he'd taken her at her word, and wasn't going to say anything about it again, not until she did. Even if it killed him.

Even though she was the one who kept pulling away and stopping things before they went too far, ever since that night in the basement, she'd been feeling frustrated and, frankly, horny as hell. It was time for them to take things to the next level, and John, though he was in many respects not quite like most guys, was still enough of a guy that he probably wasn't going to turn her down.

At least she hoped he wouldn't, because she'd have to move to a different country and change her name to escape the embarrassment.

Hence her stewardess costume. Kelly and the girls they both knew in the dorm, all of whom had met John and been egging Elizabeth to jump him ever since, had been suggesting she get more direct, maybe a French maid's outfit or something. But Elizabeth couldn't quite bring herself to go that far. There was a level of ironic humor in someone who wanted to be an international human rights lawyer dressing up as a stewardess, so if her plans for tonight got messed up, she had an explanation.

Still. The costume was tight and the buttons didn't really come up very high, especially with the push-up bra she had on underneath. She was wearing old-fashioned stockings with the seam up the back and high heels under the short skirt.

Elizabeth looked at her reflection. It didn't look quite like her, and that made her feel daring. Remembering the way she felt when John looked at her on their first date helped strengthen her resolve.

***

John took a big drink from his beer bottle. It was going to be an incredibly long night.

Elizabeth was chatting with Carson and a guy from his class. John had been shanghaied into a conversation about football, but he wasn't paying attention. He could hardly force his eyes away from Elizabeth. As soon as she'd come downstairs in those high heels and that tiny skirt, his brain had basically given up in surrender for the night.

She looked incredibly hot. Elizabeth always looked beautiful, but this was just... more. Desirable. Sexy. A lot of other words that he was unfortunately sure every other guy at the party was thinking when they looked at her. The outfit wasn't really over the top, but it didn't leave much to the imagination either. He was dying to ask if Elizabeth had picked it because of him wanting to be a pilot. Not that he really cared right now.

It was taking everything he had not to just drag her into an empty room somewhere in the house and slide his hands-

He cut his thoughts off, shifting and trying to get more comfortable. Maybe he could convince her to leave early.

But they'd only just gotten to the party and he knew she wasn't going to be willing to just take off so fast. He made himself focus on what the two guys hosting the party were saying to him about the NCAA and not look over at Elizabeth for a little while. He'd never hold out otherwise.

He was about done with his second beer, talking to Carson and Jim, one of the other med students, about rugby when he noticed Elizabeth on the other end of the hallway with a guy.

For a few minutes he figured the guy was just hitting on her. They'd been out a few places where guys had talked to her without invitation and John didn't really care much. Elizabeth was always polite and just seemed to laugh it off, so he didn't do anything. Plus he had a feeling that, jokes about knights in shining armor aside, she'd be pissed if he started acting all macho and territorial every time a guy blinked at her.

Then he noticed this guy was leaning into her personal space and Elizabeth was trying to get away from him. They were in kind of an out of the way corner of the kitchen, and the people around Elizabeth all had their backs to her. She didn't have anywhere to retreat to.

That was when the guy's hand reached out and groped her.

John wasn't clear on precisely what happened next. He knew that he barreled his way across the room and shoved a bunch of people aside. He knew that the feeling of his knuckles connecting with the asshole's jaw felt very satisfying. And he knew Elizabeth looked upset when he looked at her, but everything seemed to be covered in this red haze. Meanwhile people were shouting and the guy was teetering and flailing his arms like he was trying to fight back.

Drunk, John realized belatedly.

Carson was there a moment later, and then he hustled them through the house and out to the front walk. John paced back and forth for a minute, noticing that his hands were still clenched into fists. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

Carson touched Elizabeth's arm. "Are you all right, love?"

"Yes, I'm fine. It was nothing-" she was looking at John, and he thought she looked afraid. Christ, he'd scared her. He was scaring himself right now. He'd never reacted quite like that before, not even with Lucius the first night he met Elizabeth.

"What the hell happened?" Carson demanded.

"He was just really drunk," she mumbled.

John pointed towards the house. "That filthy bastard was putting his hands all over her. Being drunk isn't an excuse for that, Elizabeth. He shouldn't have touched you like that."

Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest, not looking at either of them.

"Look, maybe you'd better go," Carson suggested. "Take a walk and calm down, at least."

John waited for Elizabeth to say something, but she just started walking down the path. He thanked Carson and followed her. He was still really tense, from the fight and everything else. A walk might help.

***

The walk back to the T stop was interminable. Elizabeth was trembling by the time they reached the benches and sat down. She could feel John sitting there tense and seething next to her.

She still wasn't clear on what had just happened. One second she was trapped in the kitchen, this drunken guy named Simon who had incredibly bad hair and bad breath looming over her. She'd dealt with drunks before, and they tended to turn loud and belligerent when confronted, so she was looking for a way to slip off quietly when he suddenly was way too close and his hands were on her, first on her ass and then on her breasts.

Then John was there, a wild look in his eyes as he knocked Simon flat with one punch. But he wouldn't look directly at her, not even when they were outside.

They got onto the subway car and rode in uncomfortable silence. Elizabeth was berating herself. How had she been so wrong about everything? The whole night she thought John was happy. He certainly didn't seem to be objecting to her costume or anything else.

But his words kept ringing in her ears, "He shouldn't have touched you like that."

She wanted to say it wasn't her fault. But some little voice in her head kept pointing out that she was the one wearing the slinky costume. It didn't excuse the guy's behavior, but she should've been ready for it. She hadn't been thinking when she let herself get cornered.

That wasn't bothering her nearly as much as John's reaction. What if she had been wrong? What if he didn't like her behaving this way? Sure he'd never said anything like that before, but if he wasn't upset with her, why didn't he say so now?

The train approached the station near her dorm and she got up. That finally made John jump in surprise.

She wished for the tenth time that night she had brought a coat of some kind, wanting to hide her body and this ridiculous outfit and her stupidity in general. "I should probably go home," she said uncertainly. Part of her didn't want to, but she had no idea what John was thinking right now and that frightened her, because she thought she'd been understanding him pretty well until tonight. But now she doubted everything.

Something she couldn't read passed over John's face, but then he kind of shut down. "Yeah, okay." He got up and walked her to the front door of her dorm.

There was a horrible pause as they stood there. Usually that was when John kissed her goodnight, but neither of them moved. Elizabeth felt a rush of bitterness and shame and she was afraid she was going to cry. Her arms still folded tightly against her body, she just muttered "Goodnight" and walked away.

She heard John calling her name behind her but she just fled into the building.

***

By late Sunday night, John was still pretty pissed at the universe.

Elizabeth hadn't called. He'd tried her a few times during the day but there was no answer and when her voice mail came on, he just hung up because he couldn't figure out what to say.

Saturday night, after she ran away from him, he just went home and started doing all the laundry that had piled up in his room. He even stripped his bed and washed all his sheets and things. In between he shut himself in his room and brooded.

He was furious with that drunken asshole for doing that to Elizabeth, but he was more pissed at himself. For one thing, Elizabeth clearly felt the punching was an overreaction, given that she wouldn't even look at him or get near him after that. But he should have made her talk to him. Letting her just take off and avoid him was only going to make it worse, as much as he hated having serious conversations like that.

And it was his fault the whole thing had happened in the first place. If he'd just kept better control of his own hormones and been watching out for her, she wouldn't have ended up in that situation. He should've protected her better, especially when he knew damn well there were bastards out there like that drunk, who thought a girl who was dressed a certain way could be treated like crap without consequences.

Then there was the nagging voice in his head pointing out that he had been ogling her just as much as anyone else.

He knew, rationally, that it was different. If you couldn't lust after your own girlfriend with impunity, then what? It wasn't like she minded him doing it, right?

But he wasn't sure. Maybe she hadn't known how she looked. Maybe there had been some complicated reason for it. Maybe she would have been as disgusted by some of the things he'd been thinking about her as she was about that guy slobbering all over her.

No, she wouldn't. Elizabeth would know... what? That he hadn't meant it? He sure as hell had.

But it was different, he kept repeating feebly.

John slapped his book shut. He'd been trying to study most of the day and not getting anywhere. It was after midnight. He could just go to bed and not sleep again like he hadn't last night and maybe tomorrow it would be better.

Someone knocked on his door. "Yeah?"

He nearly fell over when Elizabeth came in. "Elizabeth? Are you okay?" That was a dumb question. It was after midnight and she just showed up at his house without calling, something she'd never done before. She looked pale and her eyes looked like she maybe had been crying. She was wearing jeans and a heavy sweater over a t-shirt, all under a coat, but she had her arms folded over her like she was cold.

She stood there in the middle of the room, shifting on her feet for a second before she finally looked at him. "I've been bouncing off the walls all day. I just had to see you. I wanted to know if you're still mad at me."

John gaped at her for a second. "Elizabeth, I'm not mad at you. Why would you think that?"

She looked confused. "Oh. I thought, last night... I thought you were angry."

He swallowed. "I was. I am. But not at you."

"Really?"

Something about her expression made him snap and he took the couple of steps so that he was standing in front of her and touched her cheek. "Of course not. Why would I be mad at you? It wasn't your fault." Her whole body seemed to sag at that and John grabbed her, holding on tight. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I should've been there. I should've kept that guy from getting anywhere near you."

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's not your fault either, John. It just happened."

"Why did you think I was angry at you?" he asked, pulling back enough to look at her. Up close he could see the circles under her eyes. She looked as tired as he felt.

Elizabeth squirmed a little, but John didn't let her go. "I thought... I guess I thought you were mad about my costume."

He stared. "You're not serious." She shrugged, picking at the collar of his shirt with her fingers. "Elizabeth," he tilted her chin up to make her look at him. "What you were wearing doesn't matter. You could've gone as Lady Godiva and that guy still wouldn't have had the right to lay a finger on you."

She sighed heavily. "I know that up here," she pointed to her head. "I just can't convince the rest of me."

There wasn't much he could do about that, so John changed the subject, a little hesitantly. "For what it's worth, I liked the outfit."

That got him a glimmer of a smile and his heart sped up in relief. "Oh yeah?"

"Definitely. Why do you think I always wanted to become a pilot?"

Elizabeth cracked up and John felt like he could breathe all of a sudden. She wasn't angry at him, she wasn't insulted. The happy look on her face was such a drastic change from a minute ago that he couldn't help himself. He leaned in and kissed her softly. Elizabeth sighed a little and he settled her more comfortably in his arms. "So are we okay?" he asked.

"I think maybe we should avoid house parties. They don't seem to go well for us," she said with a grin.

He chuckled, rubbing her back. "It's not my fault that my girlfriend is so hot she attracts men like flies."

She wrinkled her nose at that and he kissed her there, and then kissed her lips again. Elizabeth sank into him, kissing him back and John groaned a little. All that pent-up lust he'd been feeling, not just from the night before but from the last several weeks, started to flood into his body.

Unfortunately for his libido, she yawned into the next kiss. He relaxed his hold reluctantly.

Elizabeth straightened up. "I should go," she said.

John glanced at the clock. "You can't."

"Hunh?"

"It's almost 1am. The trains stopped running."

"Shit."

John looked at her for a second and then took her hand. "Here, come on. You can sleep here." She hesitated for a moment but he tugged on her arm. "I'll sleep on the couch downstairs."

"John, I can sleep down there-"

He almost made a crack about not trusting his roommates with her but then thought the better of it. "It's fine. You'll be more comfortable up here. Besides, I just washed everything." He dug a pair of clean sweats out and handed them to her awkwardly. "Um, you can change into those to sleep in if you want."

Elizabeth made a face. "I really need to brush my teeth."

John went to the bathroom, Elizabeth following behind him. Under the sink was a small pile of unopened toothbrushes. He handed one to her and she just raised an eyebrow. "I see you guys are prepared for unexpected overnight guests?"

He flushed a little, but he managed to grin. "Mostly it's that Carson's a little obsessed with dental hygiene."

He left her there and went downstairs to tell the guys that Elizabeth was staying over. They all obviously knew something had happened, the way he'd been growling at everyone all day, and that Elizabeth's sudden appearance had fixed it. Thankfully, Rodney was already asleep and Radek and Carson just nodded and didn't ask any questions right then.

By the time he got back upstairs, carrying a glass of water, Elizabeth was settled in his bed. He pushed aside the way it felt to see Elizabeth snuggled up in his sheets, not to mention how much he wanted to crawl in there with her. But if he did that, he was afraid something would happen and they were both too tired to think rationally and the absolute last thing he wanted was Elizabeth saying the words "It was a mistake" to him. So he put the water on the bookcase next to the bed and made a show of tucking her in. She rolled her eyes.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, but Elizabeth caught him and drew him into a real kiss before letting him stand up. He tried not to sigh too loudly. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, John."

***

Elizabeth was confused even before she opened her eyes. Her dog hadn't come to school with her, so what was that?

When she did open her eyes, it took her a minute to remember what John was doing there. Then it came back. She was in his bed, in his room. And John was sitting on the side of the bed, nuzzling her cheek and smiling. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty."

"Hmm," was all she managed, yawning and stretching. "What time is it?"

John sat up and reached for something. "Just before 7. I know you've got class at 9." He held out a mug of coffee and Elizabeth sat up and sipped it gratefully. John was staring at her.

"What?"

He smirked. "What? It's not every morning I get to wake up with a beautiful woman in my bed." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. John ran a hand lightly down her arm. "You know, I almost like you better like this than in that costume."

"Yeah, well after all the grief that caused, see if I ever dress myself up for you again," she grumbled.

John froze. "Lizabeth, you..." He looked somewhere between hopeful and guilty. "You did that for me?"

She frowned. "Of course it was for you, John."

She had no idea why he looked so happy about that. She had thought the whole costume thing had been pretty obvious. But he took the coffee away and then pounced on her.

He was right. There was something to be said for starting the morning like this. She could taste toothpaste on his lips and either the coffee had killed her morning breath or he didn't care, because John's tongue explored her mouth very thoroughly while one of his hands skimmed along her side.

Then his hand slipped up under her t-shirt and touched bare skin. Even distracted by the kissing, Elizabeth was fully aware of the moment when his hand touched her breast.

John groaned and she realized he hadn't noticed that she was bra-less until that moment.

His fingers crept slowly upwards as they pulled apart to breathe. Elizabeth couldn't make herself say the words out loud, but her back arched, pushing into his touch, and a second later he was cupping her breast in his hand, his thumb brushing against her nipple, which grew hard under his teasing.

She managed to retain enough presence of mind to run her hands over his back, letting her nails scrape along the smooth flow of muscle from his shoulders down, with only a tiny hesitation, over the curve of his ass. John attacked her neck in response, mouthing and nibbling his way up to her ear. A soft cry escaped her and she shivered underneath him, pressing her body up against his.

The blankets had fallen away and the only thing separating them were two pairs of sweatpants and their underwear. She could feel the tell-tale bulge against her thigh and her hips moved almost involuntarily, trying to get closer to him. It was as if the last couple of days hadn't happened, as if the night of the party had ended the way she hoped, with the two of them tangled together, hungry and frantic.

John's mouth descended on hers again and her fingers dug into his shoulders. He was lying mostly on top of her and they were rubbing against each other awkwardly. Her legs spread apart automatically, wanting more contact and pressure where she needed it.

John's hand abruptly pulled away from her breast and trailed down her stomach. Then it delved under her sweats and panties and his hand slid in between her thighs and she gasped softly.

He hesitated for just a second, his face inches from hers. She didn't want to wait any more for this. Elizabeth gave a fractional nod and then her eyes rolled back because his fingers pressed down and started moving slowly.

Her awareness narrowed down to her lower body, to the feeling of a strange hand working underneath her underwear. John's fingers felt different from her own; wider, harder, not as light or gentle, but also making her that much more desperate. Elizabeth rocked her body into his hand without conscious thought and John obediently took up the rhythm.

It couldn't have taken much more than a few seconds for her to come, or it felt that way. A few seconds of sweet teasing, feeling his fingers sliding just exactly right where she needed them, and then she was writhing, her jaw wide open in a tremendously unladylike expression as the pleasure ripped through her.

They held perfectly still for a moment, then her thigh muscles trembled slightly and John let out what sounded almost like a whimper. He yanked his hand free and she watched, somewhat hazy, as he pushed himself back to kneel over her. He shoved his hand down his own pants now, and she watched the fabric ripple as his fist moved up and down hurriedly.

Too blissed out to think, Elizabeth reached for him, tugging his sweatpants and boxers down carefully. She'd seen guys naked before, and even up this close, but seeing John touching himself felt different. The intimacy of it, after he'd just done this to her, was exciting and arousing all at once. And he was absolutely beautiful in the dim light. Even his erection, a part of the male anatomy Elizabeth had always found vaguely ridiculous, looked perfect. Or maybe that was the expression on his face.

He stared at her and at himself, his fist pumping hard, and even though she couldn't tell precisely what he was thinking, she was pretty sure of the jist of it. She reached out and ran her fingers up under his shirt and then over his hips, touching his thighs lightly. His eyes fluttered shut and he let out a sharp sound. Fluid dripped over his fingers, some of it landing on her bare stomach.

Elizabeth shivered, and John pitched forward, his body warm and heavy and falling half on top of her.

They just laid there for a few minutes. Elizabeth waited as her breathing returned to normal. John's eyes blinked open and looked at her from the pillow his face was half-hidden in. "Lizabeth?" he mumbled.

She grinned in response. Well, smirked, if she was being honest, but she was feeling pretty damn smug at the moment. "John?"

He turned his head more to face her. "Did we just have sex?"

She giggled. "Two or more people, one or more orgasm. I'd say it fit the definition."

He smiled then, his own very satisfied little grin. He turned onto his side, lying alongside her. "Not bad for a first try," he said, attempting to be nonchalant. The expression on his face pretty much ruined the effect. He wrapped an arm around her waist, fingers tickling up under her shirt and along her spine and she arched involuntarily, pressing closer. Abruptly he tensed, "Um, right?"

She snuggled into him, reaching up to stroke his jaw. "Not bad at all."

That didn't seem to reassure him much. "We're okay, right? I mean..." He swallowed. "I didn't really ask or anything before..."

As cute as John was when he was embarrassed, Elizabeth didn't want him thinking that way. She leaned in and kissed him. "John, believe me. I absolutely did not want you to stop."

The gleam in his eyes in response made her want to laugh. He kissed her back, hugging her tightly. The hand on her back drifted down to her ass and he murmured, "So what would I have to do to convince you to skip class this morning?"

Elizabeth groaned, pushing at his shoulders. "Oh God, I'm going to be late!"

John sighed as Elizabeth scrambled out of the bed. "I knew I shouldn't have brought that up," he said plaintively.

***

 

He'd lost count of the number of times he'd already flipped through the channels, but John kept aimlessly surfing. He'd gotten a lot of work done today. He wrote a draft of an entire paper this afternoon and caught up on 2 weeks of reading for another class. Instead of tiring him out, now he was even more wired. Especially since school stress had absolutely nothing to do with why he was so energized.

He thunked his head against the back of the couch. It had only been two days since he and Elizabeth had... Two days!

And they hadn't even... not really.

He couldn't go more than a minute without thinking about her. This afternoon he'd nearly jerked off in the bathroom at the library for God's sakes! The library. Who did that?

He hadn't felt so out of control of his own hormones since... probably since he started masturbating, actually.

He left the tv on the Weather Channel. There couldn't possibly be anything titillating about the Weather Channel. Only that channel that showed those open-heart surgeries would be less sexy.

Sitting next to Elizabeth in class this morning had been hellish. If she hadn't had to go to some meeting over lunch, then maybe... but she had and he'd spent the whole day trying not to think about how she had looked or how she had smelled. On top of trying not to think about her the previous morning in his bed. He'd stayed out of his room almost all day for that reason. Now he was practically vibrating on the couch and he wanted to go find her.

Of course, if he turned up at her door without warning, she'd know immediately why he was there. And damn it, he wasn't that pathetic. His ego wasn't willing to live with that one.

Not yet anyway. In another couple of days...

The forecast ended and a commercial came on. He wasn't even sure what it was for, only that the girl had dark, curly hair and long legs.

"Shit," John muttered, closing his eyes. He tried to calculate the odds that someone would walk in on him if he started jerking off right here on the couch. He could just imagine Rodney's face. "We all use that couch!"

A knock on the front door saved John from further contemplation of Rodney's commentary on his complete lack of self-control.

When he saw Elizabeth standing on the doorstep, John didn't care if this was the best case of déjà vu ever, he just reacted. He grabbed the front of her jacket with one hand and pulled her into the house. The door slammed shut because he shoved it so hard, but he ignored it, pushing Elizabeth against the wall of the foyer and then pinning her there with his body so he could kiss her.

It took a little while for his head to clear enough to realize she was kissing him back, almost frantically.

By the time Elizabeth turned her head away and gasped for air, he was completely hard.

"Lizabeth, please, please don't tell me you're just here to drop something off," he said.

"Professor Allen cancelled class for tomorrow. I saw a note posted on his door when I was on campus this afternoon." She smiled, a little nervously, and hefted up her backpack, which he hadn't even noticed. "I packed a change of clothes."

John groaned in utter relief and kissed her again. "That," he said between kisses. "Is the best news I've ever heard." He slipped his arms under her coat and he could feel her smiling against his mouth.

He got a little lost after that in the kissing and the awkward way they were grinding against each other. When he trailed kisses along her jaw line he felt Elizabeth's fingers in his hair, teasing his scalp and he got goose bumps.

"God, John," she muttered. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about yesterday morning."

"I know." He kissed her cheek, her temple. "Me either."

"I couldn't sleep last night. I just kept thinking about you."

Their hands were all over each other and when Elizabeth kissed him, her tongue taking over his mouth completely, John was about two steps away from tearing her clothes off right then and there. Thankfully, the specter of his roommates walking in the front door and finding them managed to make him stop.

Before she could get worried or ask any questions, he grabbed her backpack with one hand and took her hand with the other and lead her to his room.

Once they were safely upstairs, Elizabeth watched in confusion as he used his foot to shove a box of books over to block the door. "Rodney," he explained. "He sometimes knocks and comes in at the same time."

"Couldn't you just put a sock on the doorknob?" She gave him a little smile as she took her coat off and tossed it on his chair, then kicked off her sneakers.

"I don't know that they'd know what that meant, actually." John wished he'd thought to get his dirty clothes off the floor. At least he'd eaten dinner downstairs so there were no dishes on the desk like usual. And he was totally rambling in his own head, trying to distract himself from the fact that Elizabeth was in his room again. She was staying night and they were about to have sex. Real sex, not mutual masturbating, and abruptly he got very nervous. He really didn't want to screw this up, especially not with her.

There was an extremely awkward pause as they looked at each other. John wasn't quite sure what to do, how to start or restart from where they had been downstairs.

Elizabeth broke the stalemate and walked towards him. Her fingers were twisting together like they always did when she was anxious, but she didn't stop. He met her a few steps away, his arms going around her waist automatically. She reached up and brushed her fingers along his cheek and even though he was already hard and aching, he swore to himself that he was going to savor this.

John made himself kiss her slowly. He knew what she liked by now, and when Elizabeth let out a little whimper and he couldn't keep the smirk off his face. His fingers touched her jaw, then slid down the line of her throat as he watched their path silently. He let his lips wander along her neck and then teased her ear. She jumped, literally, and he nibbled lightly, until he felt her hands fisting in the front of his shirt. God, he loved that.

Elizabeth had ideas of her own. Her hands started tugging and he let her pull his shirt up and off. She stared at his body and John actually got a little red-faced. He wasn't exactly a Chippendale's dancer or anything. Elizabeth brushed her fingers against his chest hair, down along his abs and he decided it was time to even the situation a bit.

She stood still, letting him unbutton her blouse. He resisted the urge to touch her, just watched as more and more of her skin was exposed. When he gently pushed the shirt off her shoulders, he realized she had goose bumps now.

He undid the clasp on the front of her pink bra, letting her take care of removing it so he could finally put his hands on her. Elizabeth arched into his touch and he just felt her, the way her breasts filled his hands, the weight and the softness of her skin. Her nipples were small and pink and he brushed his thumbs over them lightly and Elizabeth shivered.

He wondered how she would react when he kissed her there, and his mouth watered.

John moved to his bed, drawing Elizabeth with him so that she straddled him, sitting on his lap. He was grateful that she kept her weight back on his thighs. That was dangerous enough.

Her eyes were dark in the dim light. He fondled her breasts again, holding her steady and bending his head so he could kiss her nipple. Elizabeth let out a little noise, high-pitched and involuntary so he did it again and again, each time taking her deeper into his mouth until he was suckling lightly, rubbing the tip with his tongue. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and it was extremely difficult to concentrate when she was so close, draped over him like a blanket. He moved to lavish attention on her other breast and he realized she was murmuring his name, "John, oh God..."

He suckled and licked, even drawing his teeth over a nipple experimentally and her hips bucked on his legs. Elizabeth cupped the back of his head with her hand and kissed him hungrily. She slid closer and he groaned when the weight of her pressed against his erection. Their bare upper bodies collided as he wrapped his arms around the small of her back, holding on tight.

Only a few centimeters were separating them now and he stroked her hair with a gentleness that surprised him. "Lizabeth, I want..." He swallowed, overwhelmed, staring into the pretty green eyes that were right in front of him.

He wanted to stay just like this, feeling her all against him. He wanted her to ride him. He wanted to taste her. He wanted to strip her bare and bury himself in her over and over.

"What, John?" she asked, her voice low, and he saw that her lips were red from kissing him.

"Everything," he breathed.

Then she smiled. And slipped off his lap.

He knew his jaw was hanging open but Elizabeth was standing in front of him, her fingers undoing the clasp of her jeans. She slid them down over her hips, wiggling a little bit to get free and his mouth went dry.

She reached for her underwear and he managed to whisper, "Please."

She came to him when he beckoned, making his heart pound. He hooked his thumbs in the elastic and worked the pink cotton down her waist and legs. Her skin was smooth under his hands.

His palms slid along her hips but Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder and bent, pulling her socks off. She grinned at him, her nose crinkling just a little bit.

Finally she was standing naked in front of him, gorgeous and perfect and it was a little unbelievable that she was there. John tugged her closer, needing the contact, his thumbs brushing back and forth against the indentations just below her pelvis. He leaned forward and kissed her, along the edge of her right hip. He moved sideways, mouthing kisses along her belly until he reached her navel and she giggled, sucking her stomach in automatically.

He rubbed his face against her, drawing another laugh, his hands cupping her ass. Her fingers threaded through his hair and they both held still for a moment. John breathed in, his face pressed against her skin, eyes shut, trying to calm his racing heart. Elizabeth's nails scraped along his scalp and he pulled back to look up at her.

Elizabeth put a hand against his chest and pushed him. "I want to see you again, John," she said. It barely sounded like Elizabeth. Her voice was almost a growl, and it ran along his nervous system like an electric shock.

He leaned back on his elbows, hypnotized by the sight of Elizabeth undoing his jeans and pulling them off his legs. His boxers followed fast and he swallowed hard as her eyes raked over his body.

When she finally met his gaze, John rediscovered his will to move. In fact, he lunged forward, hooking an arm around her waist and yanking her down onto the bed. He held the back of her head as she landed so she didn't hurt herself, but he was on top of her almost instantly. When his erection brushed against the warm skin of her thigh he gasped, but that didn't stop him from kissing her once again.

He slid his fingers between her legs, both of them grinning a little. He found her clit and that wiped the smile off her face, as Elizabeth's head fell back and her body pushed against his hand. She was hot and wet. He could feel the slickness on his fingers already and his cock throbbed.

He kept his touch steady, but his mouth drifted down her throat and he sucked hard on her skin, biting her neck just above the collarbone, because he had to let it out somehow. Elizabeth's body twisted under him, but it wasn't from fear or pain, so he didn't stop. Her nails dug into his back. Somehow, she managed to get out a complete sentence.

"John, please tell me you have protection."

She sighed when his hand pulled away. He fished a condom from the drawer of the nightstand and managed to get it open. He hissed a little as he got it in place.

They were lying side by side now across the bed, and all he wanted was be inside of her, but he hesitated one last time.

Elizabeth grabbed his shoulders and hauled him over so that he was in between her legs. Their bodies were so close, he could feel the heat of her against his erection.

He looked into her eyes. "Lizabeth-"

She cut him off. "Now, John." Her face flashed with so much determination and flat-out lust that he couldn't have disobeyed if he'd wanted to.

He thrust into her and choked. Christ, she was tight, and so hot. Incredible. Even better than he had imagined. His fingers clenched in the sheets on either side of her head when he was all the way in. Elizabeth was panting, making her breasts brush his chest. She wound her legs around his waist and he grasped her hip out of instinct. Elizabeth rolled her body against his and John started to move, trying desperately not to just fuck her hard right away, but God he wanted to so badly. She felt so good, so perfect.

Her nails dragged down his back, pulling him down lower so that they were facing each other. Her feet pressed against his ass, urging him to go faster. He wasn't about to argue, though somewhere deep down he worried about hurting her.

Elizabeth trembled, and he felt it start already, felt her muscles clenching briefly around him. She pushed back against him, meeting his every move and he moaned, because he was dangerously close to losing it. He thrust harder and another wave hit her, then another and another and Elizabeth was making this high-pitched noise every time he pushed into her, driving him faster and faster.

There was no doubt when she actually came. The orgasm seemed to wrack her body, making her impossibly tight, just shy of making him stop. He'd seen her come before, of course, the way her eyes shut and her jaw went wide in ecstasy. That image had been haunting him for two days. But he hadn't felt it last time.

He started to come as she began to settle down. Her body melted against his but she still held him tight as he thrust a few more times before he came, pumping inside her wet heat until his muscles ached. He went almost completely limp, still on top of her, just barely remembering to fold his arms so that he wouldn't smother her.

John had no idea how long they stayed like that, his face buried against her neck, Elizabeth's arms and legs still around him, both of them humming a little as the aftershocks flickered through her body. He didn't care. He never wanted to move. And he wouldn't have, except she shivered and let him go.

With an effort, he pulled out of her and got rid of the condom. Between the two of them, they got his sheets pulled down and climbed into the bed, lying face to face. John wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned in and kissed her.

He had no idea what to say. Nothing he could think of sounded at all adequate. What did you say when you just made love to someone for the first time in your life?

He touched Elizabeth gently, brushing her hair back out of her eyes. She gave him a sleepy smile, and he rolled onto his back. She settled herself so that her head was on his shoulder, one arm across his chest. He tucked the blanket up around her and watched as she fell asleep in his arms.


End file.
